'Shitty Deal': Goldman Exec Daniel Sparks Hammered Over Term Used To Describe Deal Made For Clients (VIDEO)

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Chairman Carl Levin, to the delight of the crowd at the hearing of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, continually repeated a descriptive, colorful word typically left out of family newspapers that was used by a top Goldman executive to describe a deal it made for clients.

The security, named Timberwolf I, a collateralized debt obligation of other CDOs that were based not on actual home mortgage bonds but instead on those bonds' movements, was referenced in a June 22, 2007, email from one Goldman senior executive, Tom Montag, to another, Dan Sparks. Sparks is testifying today before Levin's panel.

In his email, Montag remarked of the Timberwolf I deal, "[B]oy, that timeberwof [sic] was one shitty deal."

Levin used the word "shitty" 12 times -- eliciting multiple rounds of quiet giggles -- in questioning Sparks, the former head of Goldman's mortgage department, about why Montag would describe it as "shitty," how long they had known it was "shitty," and whether they knew the deal was "shitty" when they peddled it to clients.

"Our clients' interests always come first," Goldman says on its website.

That security was rated less than three months prior to Montag's email. It lost 80 percent of its value within five months of issuance. Sparks and Montag have since left the firm.

Levin grew exasperated with Sparks' non-answers: "I don't think you want to answer."

The next panel member to ask questions, Susan Collins (R-Me.) also grew frustrated, saying that she was already getting tired of Sparks' evasiveness after 30 seconds.

Here is video of the "shitty deal" moment:

And here is HuffPost video editor Ben Craw's mashup of the "shitty deal" moment:

Here is video of Sparks' evasiveness:

Comments

[TheMediaRanger]

11:52 PM on 04/29/2010

"Dude, here's how it works...you go in, say as little as you can, I'll probably say something about a sh***ty deal, don't take it personally, I'll probably be grilling Big Pharma the same way next week and this will all be forgotten. Now you're sure this check you gave me for November isn't gonna bounce, right?"

[Simone Hill]

10:31 PM on 04/28/2010

I think Mr. Wall Street has his head so far up his ass that it comes back out right where it started; normal in presentation yet completely perverse in reality.

Quoted from Goldman Sach's website:

Business Principles

Our clients' interests always come first.
Our experience shows that if we serve our clients well, our own success will follow.

Our assets are our people, capital and reputation.
If any of these is ever diminished, the last is the most difficult to restore. We are dedicated to complying fully with the letter and spirit of the laws, rules and ethical principles that govern us. Our continued success depends upon unswerving adherence to this standard.

Our goal is to provide superior returns to our shareholders.
Profitability is critical to achieving superior returns, building our capital, and attracting and keeping our best people. Significant employee stock ownership aligns the interests of our employees and our shareholders.

We take great pride in the professional quality of our work.
We have an uncompromising determination to achieve excellence in everything we undertake. Though we may be involved in a wide variety and heavy volume of activity, we would, if it came to a choice, rather be best than biggest. .

Its goes on and on. Read more at:

http://www2.goldmansachs.com/our-firm/our-people/business-principles.html

[Kahill]

08:29 AM on 04/28/2010

Smug ba#$%*ds!

[Roger Thorland]

07:17 AM on 04/28/2010

This is ridiculous. The Senate loves to make a big show for the people, when it should be the supervisors and leaders from the SEC on the firing line. I would be more concerned with why the SEC didn't follow up with the complaints about these sharks. It's like we don't expect these guys at GS to act anything other than their own self-interest and bottom line. There are no ethics and moral in what they do normally much less this kind of scam.

We don't need more regulation when it's been proven that it can be bypassed. There were people that knew what was going on with GS and told the authorities yet were ignored. Who's to say that it won't happen again.

These guys think that their industry is vital to the economy, but their contrivances were no better than a complex three card monte game.

In ten years, deregulation will be the cause celebre, and this cycle will repeat.

[awa611]

09:06 AM on 04/28/2010

While I disagree that about the Senate making a big show (at this point, it's necessary), I totally agree with you on the SEC. They have failed several times and helped cause these financial disasters. They were told about Madoff by a few people and chose to do nothing, They were told about GS and ignored it. Our government has so many things already in place to stop this kind of activity and nothing is ever done to stop it.

[o4tuna]

08:47 PM on 04/28/2010

Well, I believe that the SEC was torn down and pretty much told to go hide in a corner by the Bush Administration. I've known a few people who were involved in the markets, most of them were bond daddy's, and most of them suck. So, getting a honest answer out of these guys is like looking for a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow. They know the OPM principle, and have no problem using it.

[Orwellian]

08:08 PM on 04/28/2010

Not MORE regulation. EFFECTIVE regulation, like some other countries already have that has proven to work. Changes in regulation will be blocked by any parties who have profited and wish to continue that line of profit, and damn the tor ped oes.

[SnapShots]

06:19 AM on 04/28/2010

GS really knows how to turn on the slime. These people should be forced to answer yes or no or be thrown in the clinker for contempt until they talk.

[statementOfIncensed]

04:55 AM on 04/28/2010

Caveat emptor, in all things right? That's why Ponzi Schemes, Crack Sales, and sulfur-infused dry-wall are all legal, right?

[awa611]

09:15 AM on 04/28/2010

That is mostly true. But, these guys also have an obligation to their clients and they persuaded their clients to invest in the cdo that was designed to fail so that GS could collect the insurance money. So, in a nutshell, they created a fund that they knew from the beginning would fail, yet they counseled their clients that it would not.

[GUSTOV]

04:13 AM on 04/28/2010

too sh%^tty to fail

[layman]

03:58 AM on 04/28/2010

Water board these smugs.

[GUSTOV]

04:13 AM on 04/28/2010

exactly

[Trittydi]

03:38 AM on 04/28/2010

Dirtbags is the best I can do without being censored.
*

[klanger]

03:24 AM on 04/28/2010

I think this is what's known as a "Crap and Trade" scheme.
It's very green, like Dollars.

[donbrown]

02:26 AM on 04/28/2010

I know these people.

The one thing you have to realize in listening to them testify is that they feel they are innately superior, and therefore have no qualms about taking money from people who are not smart enough to figure out that they're being taken.

It is exactly the same pathology Billy the Kid of the Wild West, or John Dillinger of the 1930s... and therefore innately American.

When they let their guard down, you can see the smugness in the their faces.

They belong behind bars. It's the only way to cure them of this aquisitory sickness.

[GUSTOV]

04:12 AM on 04/28/2010

I agree

[mpmc23]

01:44 AM on 04/28/2010

No new Lost episode tonight, so I bet all of America was tuning in to the replays of these hearing instead. I bet Obama did that on purpose... he's always hamming it up for his audience. lol

[madisonhack]

06:33 AM on 04/28/2010

Bring back Arrested Development.....Save Ferris.

[Standing Strong]

09:37 PM on 04/27/2010

I know...arrest them from obstruction of justice...throw them in jail, bring them back ask the same questions if they don't answer do it again. Keep doing this until they comply.

[Standing Strong]

09:35 PM on 04/27/2010

I just watched this on TV. These dogs belong in prison forever....after the sell all there belongings and give all their assets to the people they ripped off. To big to fail...but hopefully not to big to bring down. I often wondered why people invested in the "market" always seemed like going to Vegas to me all a betting game. Maybe Wall Street needs to be gone and investors can invest in their communities and help them mend an grow.

[Joseph Palermo]

09:14 PM on 04/27/2010

it was funny when Levin brought up the word "ethics" and all of the traders didn't know what he was talking about, a foreign concept

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joseph-a-palermo/lloyd-blankfein-still-doi_b_551301.html